On September 25, 2017, three detectives of the New York Police Department (NYPD) filed this class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The plaintiffs sued the City of New York, the NYPD Deputy Commissioner David Cohen, and the NYPD Assistant Chief Thomas ...
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On September 25, 2017, three detectives of the New York Police Department (NYPD) filed this class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The plaintiffs sued the City of New York, the NYPD Deputy Commissioner David Cohen, and the NYPD Assistant Chief Thomas Galati under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and state law. The plaintiffs, represented by the New York Civil Liberties Union, sought declaratory, injunctive, and monetary relief as well as attorneys’ fees and costs. The case was assigned to Judge Gregory H. Woods and referred to Magistrate Judge Barbara C. Moses.

The plaintiffs filed this action to vindicate the rights of the many African American detectives in the NYPD’s Intelligence Division whose promotions, according to the plaintiffs, were denied or delayed solely based on race. The plaintiffs claimed that NYPD’s Intelligence Division had implemented a secretive and unstructured promotions policy, administered by white supervisors who refused to promote deserving African-Americans detectives. As a result of these policies, the named plaintiffs and other African-American detectives had been repeatedly denied promotions in violation of the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

On December 5, 2017, the court entered an order of automatic referral to mediation pursuant to the court’s standing Administrative Order of May 24, 2015. The standing order required that all counseled employment discrimination cases, except those brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act, were to be automatically referred to the Southern District of New York’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Program of mediation upon the filing of an answer.